Grey skies, a light drizzle and sudden bursts of heavier rain! That was what the weather was like on the Sunday afternoon when Team @FoodProwl walked into Wicked China for a tasting.
Wicked China is a new baby on the Creaticity (Ishanya, earlier) block. Its owned by ‘The Chocolate Company Pvt Ltd’ which has many stellar names under their wing, namely: The Sassy Spoon, Sassy Teaspoon and Baraza Bars & Bites.
Wooden tables with orange and blue chairs and a long red sofa at the end of the room gives the restaurant a lively look. Unique ceiling lamps and a big bright Chinese photograph/poster adds to the ambiance.
To
begin with, our choice of drinks were the Kala Khatta Slush and Cheeky Linghun
Fizz. The Kala Khatta Slush was good, but it could do with a bit more tang. The
Cheeky Linghun on the other hand was beautifully made. I only wish they hadn’t
added the limp coriander to the drink, as garnish. If a garnish is on its way
to the graveyard, please dump it! Having said that, I must repeat, the Cheeky
Linghun Fizz was truly a very good mocktail.
We
began our meal with appetizers: Turnip Cakes with Burnt Garlic & Chillies, Wicked
Filo Spring Rolls, Drunken Chicken Cigar Rolls, Crispy Prawn and Chinese
Mushroom Cheung Fun, Fish & Chilli Garlic Dumpling, Prawn & Chicken Sui
Mai and Sichuan Chicken.
The
Drunken Chicken Cigar Rolls needs to be worked on with regard to flambéing the
dish correctly as all the liquor settled to the bottom of the dish, resultantly,
the bit submerged into the liquor was a tad ick-y on the palate. If they cannot
get the flambé right, I suggest they scrap the ‘drunken’ part and merely serve
the cigars with a nice sauce on the side. I say that because the bit of cigar
that I ate, that hadn’t been corrupted by the liquor, was very nice in taste.
A tone down on the tang factor for the Fish & Chilli Garlic dumpling would do wonders for the dish. It was the excessive acidity in the sauce poured on top that marred this dish a wee bit. I could, however, find no fault in the texture of the dim sum casing or the filling. That was excellent!
The Filo Spring Rolls needed to be seasoned better as well. When had with the mayo foam and the sauce it was kinda good but when had by itself, it lacked seasoning.
A tone down on the tang factor for the Fish & Chilli Garlic dumpling would do wonders for the dish. It was the excessive acidity in the sauce poured on top that marred this dish a wee bit. I could, however, find no fault in the texture of the dim sum casing or the filling. That was excellent!
The Filo Spring Rolls needed to be seasoned better as well. When had with the mayo foam and the sauce it was kinda good but when had by itself, it lacked seasoning.
The
Turnip Cakes with Burnt Garlic & Chillies completely blew me away (that’s
an understatement). They have this dish so darn right that it goes into my
‘never ever miss out on this’ category. Crisp from outside and beautifully soft
from within and garnished with crisp burnt garlic and chillies; this dish was
stellar! Though veg, I was totally ‘fida’ over this one. Sigh!
The Crispy Prawn and Chinese Mushroom Cheung Fan was another big-time winner! I love Cheung Fan and the chef had done a marvellous job with it. I call well-made Cheung Fan a ‘perfect mouthful’ and it was exactly that! I could easily have polished off the platter by myself but, damn, I had to share. *evil grin*
The Prawn & Chicken Sui Mai was delicately delicious! I say that because the dim sum casing was delicate, and the prawn-chicken filling was delish!
The Chicken Sichuan bordered on ‘Chindian’ but in terms of flavor, I could find no fault. It was yum! I loved the crisp noodle netting they served it with. Gave the dish an added texture!
The Crispy Prawn and Chinese Mushroom Cheung Fan was another big-time winner! I love Cheung Fan and the chef had done a marvellous job with it. I call well-made Cheung Fan a ‘perfect mouthful’ and it was exactly that! I could easily have polished off the platter by myself but, damn, I had to share. *evil grin*
The Prawn & Chicken Sui Mai was delicately delicious! I say that because the dim sum casing was delicate, and the prawn-chicken filling was delish!
The Chicken Sichuan bordered on ‘Chindian’ but in terms of flavor, I could find no fault. It was yum! I loved the crisp noodle netting they served it with. Gave the dish an added texture!
We
moved on to mains and were served, Braised Lamb with Pak Choy & Chinese
Mushroom, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Mushroom Pot with Oyster Sauce, Wild
Mushrooms & Glass Noodles, Classic Hakka Noodles and Classic Fried Rice.
The Braised Lamb with Pak Choy & Chinese Mushroom and the Wild Mushrooms & Glass Noodles, both, were served on a large bed of glass noodles. Somehow most of us at the table felt the glass noodles took away a bit of flavor from the gorgeously robust sauces that were an integral part of the dishes. It would be great if they could do away with the glass noodles entirely. Of the two, I, of course, preferred the Braised Lamb with Pak Choy and Chinese mushrooms. That lamb was superbly braised, and the flavor shone though.
The Sweet & Sour Chicken, Classic Hakka Noodle and the Classic Fried Rice were the regular kind and all three dishes were very nicely made.
Our desserts were the Flourless Chocolate Cake with Basil Ice Cream (the cake was good, but the Basil Ice cream was fantastic), Jasmine Tea & Dragon Fruit Mousse (this looked as if it had come straight out of a Master Chef kitchen – I could not fault it for presentation or flavor) and Lemon Grass Crème Brûlée (of all the desserts this one stole my heart as I love Brûlée – this was served with a stunning pistachio biscotti).
The Braised Lamb with Pak Choy & Chinese Mushroom and the Wild Mushrooms & Glass Noodles, both, were served on a large bed of glass noodles. Somehow most of us at the table felt the glass noodles took away a bit of flavor from the gorgeously robust sauces that were an integral part of the dishes. It would be great if they could do away with the glass noodles entirely. Of the two, I, of course, preferred the Braised Lamb with Pak Choy and Chinese mushrooms. That lamb was superbly braised, and the flavor shone though.
The Sweet & Sour Chicken, Classic Hakka Noodle and the Classic Fried Rice were the regular kind and all three dishes were very nicely made.
Our desserts were the Flourless Chocolate Cake with Basil Ice Cream (the cake was good, but the Basil Ice cream was fantastic), Jasmine Tea & Dragon Fruit Mousse (this looked as if it had come straight out of a Master Chef kitchen – I could not fault it for presentation or flavor) and Lemon Grass Crème Brûlée (of all the desserts this one stole my heart as I love Brûlée – this was served with a stunning pistachio biscotti).
Waking up early and missing out on sleeping-in late on a weekend is truly worthwhile when a restaurant that invites you, serves food as good as Wicked China did. Except for the tiny changes I have recommended for certain dishes, everything they served was truly very nice. I look forward to visiting them again, this time with mum in tow as I have a sneaky feeling she’ll love the food served here.
Heartfelt thanks for the invite and the cute gift!
Address: Unit 11, Pubtown Creaticity, Yerawada, Pune, Maharashtra 411006.
Tel: +91-93268 51111
Tel: +91-93268 51111
Some more photographs...
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